After two-time Super Bowl champion coach Don Shula passed away on Monday at the age of 90, it didn’t take long for the focus to shift to another Super Bowl-winning coach: Bill Belichick. Belichick, who has won six Super Bowls as the coach of the Patriots in New England, trails Shula for first place on the NFL’s all-time wins list by 43 victories (304 to 347) and has given every indication he intends to try and catch him.
Well aware of this when he was alive, Shula took every opportunity that came his way to take shots at Belichick and openly rooted against him in 2007 when the Patriots were making a failed run at an undefeated season. He also referred to him as “Belicheat” in the aftermath of SpyGate and DeflateGate.
Regardless, after Shula’s passing Belichick released a statement about the coaching legend.
“Don Shula is one of the all-time great coaching figures and the standard for consistency and leadership in the NFL,” according to the statement. “I was fortunate to grow up in Maryland as a fan of the Baltimore Colts who, under Coach Shula, were one of the outstanding teams of that era. My first connection to Coach Shula was through my father, whose friendship with Coach Shula went back to their days in northeast Ohio. I extend my deepest condolences to the Shula family and the Dolphins organization.”
Though the statement was respectful, it stopped short of saying the 90-year-old was a great football coach and also didn’t say Belichick liked him personally. Given all that, it certainly seems likely that even with Shula now dead and unable to see him do it, Belichick will be driven to win his 348th game as a coach and move into first place on the NFL’s all-time list.
To do it, especially with Tom Brady now in Tampa Bay, Belichick will likely need to coach for a minimum of four seasons and will have to get the most out of a New England team many are projecting to be just a borderline playoff contender. Up until now, Belichick has a career record of 249-77 with Brady and 55-62 without him.
Also, if the 68-year-old coach wants any shot at catching Shula, there’s no way the Patriots can tank this season in the hope of getting a shot at drafting top quarterback prospect Trevor Lawrence out of Clemson, as some have suggested.
That’s good news for New England and potentially bad news for Shula — not that it matters to him at this point.
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